Alex Garland's 2015 directorial debut Ex Machina turned 11 years old this year, and Collider argues the film has only grown more relevant as debates over artificial intelligence have intensified. Written and directed by Garland, the psychological sci-fi thriller stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, a programmer invited to test the sentience of Ava (Alicia Vikander), a humanoid AI created by his reclusive tech billionaire boss, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). The article frames the film as both a prescient warning about unchecked technological ambition and a sharp exploration of gender and bodily autonomy.

The piece draws parallels between Nathan's creation of Ava and J. Robert Oppenheimer's development of the atomic bomb, suggesting both represent cases where the pursuit of what is technologically possible outpaced consideration of what is ethically responsible. It also highlights the film's feminist themes, noting that even the seemingly sympathetic Caleb reduces Ava to her value as a woman rather than treating her as a full being. The 108-minute film is held up as a modern sci-fi classic whose warnings about AI and objectification remain, in the writer's view, largely unheeded.